Before writing this review, I took a peek at my review of Larson's Devil in the White City, because I wanted to confirm that I had the same issue withBefore writing this review, I took a peek at my review of Larson's Devil in the White City, because I wanted to confirm that I had the same issue with that book as with this one. To be honest, I think I felt it less with Dead Wake, but it was still there -- the idea that Larson tries to pack everything he finds of interest into the narrative, so much so that the actual story gets diluted with all of the extraneous bits. An example early on -- while it was nice to get a word picture what it was like when the Lusitania started its journey, it wasn't necessary to include a list of the names of ten of the piers they passed while traveling down the Hudson River on its way to the ocean.

I know others were disappointed with the lack of pictures in the book. But they are all available online.

I'm glad I read this, because I learned a lot I didn't know before. But I would have preferred it if the book had been edited down a bit more....more